Tubac artist receives 10th commission to capture history for National Guard

Tubac artist Bobb Vann has been called upon once again to capture in painting a notable event in American history.

For an impressive 10th commission requested by the National Guard, Vann will paint a portrait of Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester, the first woman to win the Silver Star medal for direct actions against an enemy force.

Hester, 24, of the 617th Military Police Company, a Kentucky Army National Guard unit out of Richmond, Ky., made history when she earned the medal during actions March 20, 2005, while reacting to an ambush by insurgents near Baghdad.

She is also the first female soldier to receive the award for exceptional valor since World War II and the first ever to be cited for close combat.

Hester killed at least three enemy combatants, according to her account and the citation.

The battle, occurred immediately before the controversy in Congress over the suitability of having women in combat.

A 1994 Pentagon policy bars women from serving in units most likely to see ground combat, but many women serve in support units that put them in the same free-fire zones as combat units.

In an early interviewbefore receiving her medal, with the American Forces Press Services, Hester, who was born in Bowling Green, Ky., and later moved to Nashville, Tenn., said she was surprised when she heard she was being considered for the Silver Star.

“I’m honored to be considered, much less awarded, the medal,” she said. “It really doesn’t have anything to do with being a female. It’s about the duty performed that day as a soldier. Your training kicks in and the soldier kicks in. It’s your life or theirs. You’ve a job to do—protecting yourself and your fellow comrades.”

Creating a portrait

Although he’s never met Hester, it’s Vann’s artistic talent that has to capture on canvas this heroic soldier. With materials provided to him from National Guard Chief of Historical Services, Renee Hylton, including photos of Hester in her combat gear, Vann is creating a portrait of the woman that one day may be hung in the Pentagon, home to many other paintings, including several of Vann’s commissioned pieces.

This commission has not been an easy one, according to the artist.

“She’s a very private person and doesn’t want to make a big issue out of what has happened,” Vann explained. “She knows what she did saved American lives and she always credits the rest of her squad for being alive herself.”

Vann says Hester’s modesty and hesitation to appear in the “limelight” have resulted in his artistic interpretation of her as somber and reserved.

No smiling soldier

“It was difficult just working from photos and I’ve had to study her features with and without her helmet on and in uniform and then dressed in non-military clothes,” Vann adds. “This soldier is not boastful about what she had to do, which is difficult under any circumstances, so her facial expressions were very important to me. You are not going to see the smiling soldier, but rather a pensive one.”

Hylton echoed Vann in her description of Hester.

“She is very modest and does not want to be the center of attention,” Hylton says. “She really does not like to be interviewed and this is why we didn’t ask her to pose for Bobb.”

“According to our National Guard grapevine, she was invited by Laura Bush and Condoleeza Rice to accompany them to events—and turned them both down,” Hylton adds. “Before she got called up for Iraq, she was managing a shoe shop. Now, she is in the Kentucky State Police, and I would say she won’t be afraid to detain suspects for questioning.”

Before completing the actual painting of Hester, which will be in her combat uniform minus her helmet and sunglasses, Vann has done several pencil sketches which are then sent off to the National Guard Bureau for close inspection to ensure the accuracy of the National Guard combat gear.

Capture smallest details

It’s Vann’s skill in portraiture, combined with his ability for the detailed work required to accurately depict the smallest details in uniforms and equipment that led to his numerous commissions for the National Guard Bureau.

Hylton first discovered Vann’s artistic talents years ago when she was contacted by Lt. Col. Willie Davenport, a 1968 Olympic gold medalist who later took active duty with the Army National Guard.

Davenport spent several months at Fort Huachuca coaching the U.S. Track Team and during his stay here visited Tubac and saw Vann’s work, paying special attention to Vann’s depiction of a “Buffalo soldier.”

Davenport later asked National Guard historians if they wouldn’t commission Vann to paint a Buffalo soldier for the National Guard.

Once the government contacting officers had been satisfied that Vann was indeed the best-qualified artist to undertake the task, National Guard historians began sending him historic photographs from which to get details of the correct uniforms and equipment worn and used by black soldiers who served in National Guard units in America’s wars, from the Civil War through the Persian Gulf War.

According to Hylton, it was the pre-photographic era that presented Vann with an artistic and historic challenge.

1715 campaign

The series began with South Carolina's campaign against the Yemassee Indians in 1715, a period for which no contemporary images of white or black militia exist.

After consulting experts from the Costume Department at Colonial Williamsburg, National Guard historians went to the Library of Congress to research 18th century dress.

It was up to Vann to turn their research into a portrait of a man wearing clothes historically correct for the year 1715.

Research for the Revolutionary War figures was easier, as there are contemporary drawings for this period. Vann's skill in depicting horses (something not all historical artists can do) led to the decision to do a mounted figure, an African-American attached to one of the guerrilla bands like that of Francis Marion, the "Swamp Fox."

Again, all the details of clothing, as well as the horse's bridle and saddle, had to be historically accurate.

Using money from their advertising account, the National Guard Bureau commissioned from Vann an original oil portrait to commemorate the African American "Minutemen" who began the Revolutionary War.

While the portrait was based on the famous 1876 statue at Concord, Mass. by Daniel Chester French, the interpretation and dramatic colors used in the painting were Vann's own.

African American Minuteman

Vann's African American Minuteman was made into a poster with an initial print run of 10,000. The success of this poster, distributed nationally for the Department of Defense celebration of African-American Heritage Month in February 1997, led to the decision to commission poster for the other manor ethnic groups which serve in the Guard.

Vann's ability to accurately portray the full range of black skin tones and facial features left no doubt that he would be equally sensitive to the accurate portrayal of other ethnic groups, and he again received the commission.

The resulting poster, commemorating the National Guard service of Hispanics, Asians and women will be distributed in 1998-1999.

Vann’s previous work is constantly in use by the Guard's historians, most prominently in a $14,000 permanent historical display in the Pentagon which was officially opened in August 1998 by Lt. Gen. Russell C. Davis, chief of the National Guard Bureau.

rford@gvnews.com | 547-9740